Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), a global celebration of the social, political and economic achievements of women past, present and future, so it only seems right that Quiksilver Women mark this occasion too.
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The first IWD was on the 19th March 1911 and was recognised in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where more than one million woman and men attended IWD rallies in support of women’s rights to work, vote and to end discrimination. Unfortunately, despite significant success surrounding equality in recent decades fair treatment is still an issue and in many countries woman do not have access to the same standard of healthcare and education as men do and often suffer violence against them.
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Thankfully IWD is now an official holiday in countries such as Russia, China, Bulgaria and Mongolia where men honour the women in their lives with flowers and small gifts - much like we do for Mothers Day here in the UK. In addition, every year thousands of events are held the world over in celebration of IWD and the achievements of women including political rallies, craft markets, art projects, fashion parades and theatrical performances. The US have even declared the entire month of March ‘Women’s History Month.’

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In support of woman worldwide Quiksilver Women Ellie Lawson, Leddra Chapman and I are sending our old bras to charity via the Breast Talk Bra Appeal. A variety of charities such as Oxfam then distribute unwanted bras to woman who really need them both here in the UK and in countries such as Africa, where good quality bras are highly sought after. Additionally, old bras can also be used to raise funds for breast cancer research.

Bras are an item we all too often take for granted, but there are many woman across the globe that don’t own a bra or cannot afford one. Through bra donations such as ours reusable bras will go towards helping homeless and underprivileged woman, where as damaged bras can be recycled into quilts.
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Here in the UK over 70 per cent of woman are thought to be wearing the wrong size bra. I recently had my bust professionally measured and found I was far from wearing the correct size, but I’m glad I have somewhere to send all my old ones now. So why not get yourself fitted and rather than sending your old bras to landfill reduce waste and help support disadvantaged woman and the environment by sending your old bras to the Breast Talk Bra Appeal too!

(Version Française ci-dessous)

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Simultaneously tough and gentle, Laure Dall’Erba is a young 28 year-old designer.  Born in Paris, she moved to the Basque Coast as a teenager.  Very early on, her passion for fashion and handbags in particular led her to create her first designs, which she made solely for her friends.  But the working magic and the adventure did not end there… In 2007, Laure launched her own brand ‘Motus & Bouche Cousue’ (‘Mum’s the Word’), a kind of Tinkerbell universe laced with a rock and roll attitude.  We met with the young talented designer…

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Who is the person behind ‘Motus & Bouche Cousue’?

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My name is Laure, I am 28 and I was born in Paris. I have lived on the Basque Coast since the age of 15 and for the last 3 years I have been pursuing my childhood dream via my brand, Motus & Bouche Cousue.  When I get up in the morning, I realise how lucky I am to be able to work for myself, and to make a living out of my dream.
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How and when did this adventure begin?

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Having studied business and after several work placements, I wanted to get closer to the products and to assert my passion for couture.  I decided to put together a dossier and do a fashion course.  So at 23 years old, I went back to school with kids of 15 and 16!  It was a tough test but I nevertheless achieved a BEP in fashion design by the end of the year.
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With my BEP in my pocket, I drew up my first designs that I reserved only for my friends.  Encouraged by the people around me, it was in October 2007 that I decided to go one step further and launch my own brand.  I was a sales person in a show room at the time, taking orders for clients of the notable brands, Tara Jarmon, Bensimon and IKKS.  I negotiated with my employer to put my own brand among the others and I then noted with pride my first orders for my brand, Motus & Bouche Cousue!

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The magic now working, I started to think more and more about this venture and I finally decided to leave my job and to devote myself entirely to Motus & Cousue.
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Today I am no longer at the start of a beautiful adventure but Motus & Bouche Cousue is the fruit of a long labour, with a lot of perseverance.  It has not always been a rosy journey but it reflects my desire to pursue a childhood dream.

What drove you to create your own brand?

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I created my label thanks to the people around me who believed in me and always supported me along this long road.  I followed the long route of French administration and it is not yet over.  The complex market of the fashion world often brings me back to reality with a bump.  It’s a constant battle to survive and any decisions I make are immediately shown to be good or bad, so the support of people around me is very important at those times.  The thing that really drove me to do it was a desire to work for myself and only for myself and to achieve my childhood dream.

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Why ‘Motus & Bouche Cousue’? (‘Mum’s the Word’)
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It was an expression that always made me smile when I was little.  The creation of my own label is the fulfilment of a childhood dream.  So I wanted to use this logic when choosing a name, and something reflecting a Tinkerbell-like world, that suits my collection.  I also think every woman carries her life in her bag.  She cultivates mystery in there; one does not rummage in a woman’s bag, which is a well-known fact!!  So, Motus… mum’s the word, say nothing… a woman conceals her sense of mystery in her bag.

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What is a typical day in the life of a designer?

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My career does not really have a typical day, I manage my priorities.  The only common factor in my days is a lack of time; everything always has to be done straight away!  Every day is different, which is what pleases me about my lifestyle choice.
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What sense of satisfaction does it give you?
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My satisfaction at this stage is unfortunately still minimal.  My label is too new and I still have a lot of work to do.  On the other hand, when I go into a lovely boutique and I see my bags… I am like a child… it gives me a huge amount of personal satisfaction.  The fact that someone I don’t know has gone to the effort of buying one of my bags in a boutique, that gives me great satisfaction.

What advice would you give to aspiring designers?
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To follow their intuition, to overcome their fears and to find the courage to really believe in what they do, to turn their wishes into reality without ever resting on their laurels.

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If you are crazy about her bags, you can find them here : Motus & Bouche Cousue

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A la fois macadam et dune, Laure Dall’Erba est une jeune créatrice de 28 ans. Née à Paris, elle s’installe sur la côte basque à l’adolescence. Très tôt, sa passion pour la couture et les sacs à mains l’amène à signer ses premières créations qu’elle réserve alors à ses amies. Mais la magie opère et l’aventure ne s’arrête pas là … En 2007, Laure lance sa propre marque Motus & Bouche Cousue, un univers fée clochette pluggé de rock’n’roll attitude. Rencontre avec une jeune et talentueuse créatrice …

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Qui se cache derrière Motus&Bouche Cousue ?
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Je m’appelle Laure. J’ai 28ans, et je suis née à Paris. Je vis sur la côte basque depuis mes 15ans, et depuis 3 ans maintenant je poursuis mon rêve d’enfant, à travers ma marque Motus&Bouche Cousue. Je me lève le matin et j’ai la chance de pouvoir travailler pour moi même, juste pour moi et vivre de ma passion.

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Comment et quand a débuté cette aventure ?
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Suite à des études commerciales et après plusieurs expériences professionnelles, j’ai eu l’envie de me rapprocher du produit et de m’adonner à ma passion pour la couture. Je décide donc de monter un dossier  et de suivre une formation en couture. C’est ainsi qu’à 23 ans, je repars sur les bancs d’école avec des nanas âgées de 15 à 16 ans ! Une dure épreuve mais j’obtiens tout de même à la fin de l’année un BEP couture modélisme !
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Mon BEP en poche, je signe mes premières créations que je réserve à mes amies. Encouragée par mon entourage, c’est en octobre 2007 que je décide d’aller un peu plus loin en lançant ma propre marque. Je suis alors commerciale dans un show room et note les commandes des clients pour des grandes marques type Tara Jarmon, Bensimon, IKKS. Je négocie donc avec mon employeur de placer ma marque parmi les autres et enregistrent avec fierté mes premières commandes pour Motus&Bouche Cousue !
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La magie opérant, je commence à croire de plus en plus à cette aventure et décide donc de quitter mon emploi de commerciale et de me consacrer uniquement à Motus&Bouche Cousue.
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Aujourd’hui, je n’en suis encore qu’au commencement de cette belle aventure mais Motus&Bouche Cousue est le fruit de beaucoup de persévérance, un long parcours pas toujours très rose mais qui reflète l’envie de poursuivre un rêve de petite fille.

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Qu’est-ce qui t’as poussé à créer ta propre marque ?
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J’ai créé ma marque grâce à mon entourage qui croit en moi et qui m’a toujours soutenu à travers ce long projet. J’ai suivi les longues étapes administratives françaises. Et ce n’est pas fini. Le marché complexe de la mode me ramène aussi souvent à la réalité, c’est un combat permanent pour exister et le retour de mes décisions est immédiat dans le bon ou le mauvais sens ; le soutien de mon entourage est important dans ces moments là. Mais ce qui m’a vraiment poussé à le faire c’est l’envie de travailler pour moi et juste pour moi, ainsi de réaliser mon rêve d’enfant.

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Pourquoi Motus&Bouche Cousue ?
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C’est une expression qui m’a toujours fait sourire quand j’étais petite. La création de ma marque c’est la réalisation de mon rêve d’enfant. J’ai donc voulu rester dans cette logique dans le choix du nom de ma marque et dans un univers fée clochette pour les créations de ma collection. Je crois aussi que chaque femme trimbale toute sa vie dans son sac. Elle cultive le mystère, on ne fouille pas dans le sac d’une femme c’est bien connu !!! Donc Motus…on ne dit rien…la femme cache ses mystères dans son sac.

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Quelle est la journée type d’une créatrice ?
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La journée type dans mon métier n’existe pas, je gère les priorités,  le seul point commun de mes journées c’est le manque de temps, tout est toujours à faire pour tout de suite !! Chaque jour est différent c’est aussi ce qui me plait dans ce choix de vie.

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Quelle satisfaction cela t’apporte t’il ?
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Ma satisfaction est malheureusement encore minime. Ma marque est encore toute récente et il y a beaucoup de travail à faire. En revanche, quand je passe dans une très belle boutique et que je vois mes sacs…je suis comme une gamine….c’est une satisfaction personnelle énorme. Que quelqu’un que l’on ne connait pas fasse la démarche d’acheter mon produit dans une boutique, me procure une sensation de satisfaction énorme.

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Quels conseils as-tu à donner pour les apprenties créatrices ?

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De suivre leur intuition, de dépasser leurs peurs et de trouver le courage de croire en ce qu’elles font, transformer leur envie en réalité sans jamais se reposer sur leurs acquis.

Pour toutes les fans de ses sacs, vous pouvez vous les trouver ici : Motus et Bouche Cousue

Shop the looks : Sound Check Shirt, Daytripper Dress, Wonderwall Tank

Quiksilver encourages creative female talent and supports young artists on the road to success and we are very pleased to announce that our own Quiksilver Women Leddra Chapman, Ellie Lawson and Tennille Amor are sharing some tracks from their respective new albums with us.

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With three creative and talented artists and three awesome albums to discover what are you waiting for? To download some tracks from our ambassadors, just go to http://music.quiksilver-women.com and suscribe. Thank you for your support and thank you Leddra, Ellie and Tennille for sharing your music with us!

Finally it’s March 2nd; spring is almost officially upon us!  With spring’s warm breezes, one of our favorite new looks is following closely on its heels; the Oxford Shoe!  It’s the perfect lightweight shoe for the upcoming season and looks amazing with all of our Quiksilver Women’s spring styles, especially with the Daytripper Dress or Islington shirt dress.

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Browsing around one of our favorite local fashionista/Indie hotspots, The Lab in Costa Mesa, CA, we were able to snap a few paparazzi style photos of our favorite Oxford looks; we especially love the all grey patent leather style.

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Which look suits your style best ?

February was an enormously busy month for me; I was on a staycation. I hardly ever made it to bed before midnight, I slept in pretty much everyday and successfully procrastinated the few things that stood on my to-do list throughout the whole month. As I said… enormously busy. I mean seriously, did you know how time consuming procrastinating is? Especially after the invention of Facebook. That thing is to procrastinating what the board is to surfing – the tool to perform your hobby, the key to enjoy your leisure time activity. Not that I know too much about surfing, but I assume dropping into a wave over and over again gives you the same feeling of addiction as cyber-stalking your Facebook friends over and over again does. Then, right before you pick up the work you intended to do the sunset makes you realise you’ve just procrastinated yet another day away…

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The lazy boredom of February had me perform procrastination by going through the photo albums of people I don’t even know. But this didn’t even matter, as I find it simply mind blowing and highly entertaining to see what people post on Facebook these days – photos of their childhood when they had the chickenpox for example. Chickenpox! You can be the Kate Moss of babies, and chickenpox still manages to make you look disgusting. Why would I want to photo proof to the world how disgusting I was as a baby? Or then there are these husbands who use their smart phones to post photos of their wives ten seconds after they gave birth. I would straight up ask for a divorce if I was them! Why should the world need to know how pale you look after ten hours of labour?

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What I found on Facebook while procrastinating my way through February made me feel vicariously embarrassed for others and I was convinced Facebook finally needed to launch a dislike-button in order to save people from their own awkwardness. I was sure this dislike-button was the only way to make certain users reconsider their posts, but then, after I reflected on it again, I eventually took sides against it. How drastic would the consequences of this dislike-button possibly be? People would definitely start hating. It would be some sort of revival of public outlawing, the tool to communal flouting, the condemnation of all chickenpox loving dads and moms in labour…

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Flouting can doubtlessly be fun at times, but honestly, I don’t know if I could personally deal with people disliking my posts. I have this one Facebook photo album for example, in which I only put pictures I consider enormously funny. I love this album. I sometimes catch myself going through it and peeing my pants laughing at my own captions… Call me morbidly narcissistic, or hopelessly pathetic, it’s probably what I am. But I don’t have spare money to spend on psychiatric sessions or self-help groups and this album makes me feel good about myself just as chickenpox and delivery room photos encourage others. So why should I let anyone kill my dreams by disliking my photo album and letting me know that I am most likely the only person on this planet that thought those captions were funny? The truth hurts and it’s sometimes unnecessary for it to be said. This is why I plead against dislike-buttons and ask you to use the like-buttons more often. I would even say they might go down in history as the antidepressant of the 21^st century… And you know what? I personally like this idea!

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Ela

Having wrapped up the Quiksilver Women’s Launch at Bloomingdales, I felt it would be fun to share with everyone who wasn’t able to attend the event, the in’s and out’s of the Personal Style Guide! So here is a peek inside, which should get you excited to start dressing up your spring looks.

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Signature style is what sets apart that one woman in the room and makes her impossible to ignore.  She is not just wearing the latest fashion, but is wearing something that is “so her”.  She has a defined, unique sense of style that transcends time and trends.  She is inspired by art, music and travel, and she pulls it all together with a laid-back, beach-born attitude.  She is an “it girl”; an icon-in-the-making.

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The Quiksilver Women’s brand celebrates that spirit of creative, sexy and effortless style. Here we explore three signature styles that make the Quiksilver Woman.

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Are you a Coastal Wanderer, the Downtown Rocker or the Pretty-Tough M.O.D?

Coastal Wanderer

Coastal Wanderer style is about carefree exploration, mix-n-match, beautiful imperfections, beach-in-your-blood and the perfect mix of earthy and luxurious.

Pretty Tough Jeans,Chancery Lane Tank

Soundcheck Button-up, Bancroft Road Skirt

Downtown Rocker

Downtown Rocker style is all about D.I.Y. and devil-may-care: skinny stripes, over-sized tanks, studded jeans, wearing your favorite threadbare tee, stealing your boyfriend’s shirt, piling on the accessories and throwing on some black boots.

Wonderwall Tank ,East End Hoodie, Crazy Love Shorts

M.O.D. (Model off Duty)

Models off duty just have that certain innate sense of style..it is all about nonchalant chic, equal parts independent cool and feminine pretty, effortless and sexy with a tough creative edge.

Knockout Jeans, Seven Dials Cardigan, Songstress Tank

Coldharbor Lane Dress

We just wanted to take a moment to share with you, dear readers, a bold and obvious truth:
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Music is amazing

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As a source of motivation and inspiration, Music is always there to give. As we make our grueling commutes and pyche ourselves up for the tasks each day requires of us … as we launch ourselves into each new day, each new design season, each new adventure — music provides a wealth of mood and vibe to guide and inspire. Old favorites and new discoveries are in our ears to aid us along as we work though each design, or fulfill the mudane tasks that are required to make each design come to life. Music is a motivator, a positive force that pushes us forward towards our goal of creation. It has so many forms and diversity, so many layers and emotions … it has something to move everyone — both emotionally and physically.

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Here are but a few of the sonic tidbits that we have stumbled upon lately, that are killing us with their musical genius. Check ‘em out …

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Quadron/ Average Fruit:

Egyptian Hip-Hop/Heavenly:

The XX Remix Florence and the Machine/ You’ve Got the Love:

Charlotte Gainsbourg (with Beck)/ IRM:

Look who we spotted in QSW; Minnie Driver enjoying some fun in the sun with her little boy and wearing the La Luz Dress from Spring 2009 collection!  If you didn’t manage to grab the dress first time round don’t fret, you can find it in our new Spring Summer 2010 line. It’s called the Emmanuelle Dress and looks great paired with the Arena vest for a smouldering summer look that will take you from day into night.

Our very own Quiksilver Woman Bara Prasilova has been nominated as Photographer of the Year in the final round of the Czech Grand Design Awards 2009.

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Prague based photographer Bara has been selected for this prestigious award on the basis of the beautiful images she snapped of our other Ambassadors wearing the Quiksilver Woman Collection, and for a series of images taken for Esprit LN and the Krehky publication.

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You can vote for Bara on the Czech Grand Design website, and we’ve got our fingers crossed whilst we wait for the results which will be announced on March 6th.

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Good luck Bara !

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By Ruth Carruthers, QSW Ambassador